First thing on the to do list for my new veggie garden was to build the raised bed. Mel, from the All New Square Foot Garden Book, generally uses 4×4 square foot raised beds but we decided to go a different route. We were not ready to give up any grass space to dedicate to the bed so we thought we would try to find an existing flower bed that we could convert.
I had to follow the sun, the elements, and other factors in my backyard to decide where to put the new bed. I thought there was a good spot right in the back of my house against the house wall but after careful consideration, I think it’s a bit too shady. I am thinking that I might eventually make this a cold weather bed.
After more tracking I decided the perfect spot would be around the corner on the side of the house; sun all day long!!
For materials, we decided that we would use cedar wood. It’s untreated and the most natural way to go for my new veggies. Overall the cost of the materials for the main bed was $85.00. My hubby got on his “honey do” hat and started to build.
Overall dimensions of the bed were 8 x 3, not quite a square foot bed, but we would make it work. We used 1 x6 size cedar and doubled it up to give me a 12″ tall bed. We used 1 x 1 cedar for the legs and attached it to all 4 corners.
“Honey do” cut these at an angle to make them stake into the ground easier.
We also added chicken wire to the bottom to help prevent any little pests from digging up underneath and eating my plants. After more analysis, I would have done this differently, I would have put down the weed cloth, recommended by Mel.
Finally the raised bed is complete, it really took no time at all! We cleared the old dirt, staked in the new bed, leveled it off. I then added some sand (helps in drainage) and some organic top soil to fill the gap. I will give a detailed look at the bed full of new soil in my next blog post.
3 excellent resources on building rasied beds besides Mel’s Book are: